Addressing the Staffing Issue In Fundraising

Two years ago, I wrote about the staff pipeline problems facing campaigns and consulting firms. A whole campaign cycle later, things haven’t changed much — especially for fundraisers. We continue to see the talent pool shrink as campaigns abandon traditional fundraising methods and remote work leaves young staffers without as many mentors.

Still, fundraising remains a necessary evil for young progressives.

Firms, campaigns, and committees need to work together to address this ongoing problem while also finding new staffing structures that provide campaigns with the support they need to raise the ever-increasing funds it takes to run a winning race.

Partnering with firms.
In my experience, one model that I have found a lot of success with is hiring a younger, more junior staffer to run the day-to-day operations of the fundraising shop while the consultant manages the finance plan, liaisons with outside groups, provides mentorship to the younger staffer, and ensures the candidate is understanding the plan and doing their part.

Firms can provide seasoned professionals able to fully draft and execute a finance plan on a major race. The issue that most of us end up facing is bandwidth. But by having a junior staffer on the ground, it allows the consultant to focus on higher-level tasks.

Another successful model that my firm has utilized is placing a member of our team on the ground with the campaign while a partner oversees their work on a daily basis. This model provides the campaign with a dedicated and trained staffer who can hit the ground running from Day One. It also helps the firm, by giving our staffer a new set of lessons that can only be gained by working on the ground with a campaign.

Firms must get creative to meet the needs of the campaigns they serve. I’ve had a few occurrences in cycles past where a campaign fell apart because there was no strong structure on the ground. A consultant can create a great fundraising plan, but if there’s no staffer on the ground to help execute that plan, they’re destined to fail.

Campaigns and committees need to be flexible.
Too many campaigns and the committees that guide them believe that there’s a one-size fits all method for campaign staffing. Not only is this not true, it’s also impossible to fill every campaign with a fully operational finance department.

If campaigns and committees were more open to working with more fundraising firms, they could implement one of the above-mentioned models to assist their efforts. Taking time to review some alternative staffing models as we head into the ’24 cycle will allow campaigns to see the roles they need filled, while minimizing the risk of overworking and burning out their younger staffers on the ground.

Nick Daggers is a co-founding partner of the 1833 Group, a Chicago-based Democratic political consulting firm focusing on fundraising. He has worked as a campaign fundraiser since 2008 and has worked on dozens of races from coast to coast since then.